The list of buildings where a civil ceremony can legally take place is far shorter than the list of buildings that host receptions, and the two are frequently confused.
Getting married in the building
North London Venue Guide Getting married in the building
A civil marriage or civil partnership in England and Wales can take place at a register office or at premises formally approved for the purpose. Approval is granted to a specific building, for a defined period, on application by the proprietor, and it comes with conditions.
The consequence is that a venue perfectly capable of hosting your reception may not be able to host the ceremony, and no amount of goodwill changes that. The register offices information on GOV.UK and the overview of marriages and civil partnerships set out the framework.
What approved premises status requires
In outline: a permanent structure rather than a temporary one, a room identified for the ceremony, public access to the ceremony, and conditions about the room being seemly and dignified and about no religious content in a civil ceremony.
The last two points catch people. The room must be available for members of the public to attend the ceremony, which is a legal requirement rather than an invitation. And a civil ceremony cannot include religious readings or hymns, which is a constraint on content rather than on the venue.
The practical sequence
Approved premises status belongs to the venue. Ask directly whether the building is approved, for which rooms, and until when. A venue that holds it will say so immediately because it is a selling point.
The registration service is booked separately from the venue. Registrars are a limited resource, they book up further ahead than venues in many boroughs, and their fees are separate. Book the registrar before you commit to the venue date, not after.
Give notice at the register office in the district where you live, in person, within the statutory period. This is the step most often left too late by couples who assumed the venue handled it.
If the building is not approved
Three routes, all common and none of them a problem.
Marry at the register office and hold the reception at the venue. Straightforward, cheaper, and the ceremony is short.
Hold a celebrant-led ceremony at the venue with a separate legal registration elsewhere. This is what a great many "weddings at the venue" actually are, and it gives complete freedom over content, including religious content, which a civil ceremony does not allow. It carries no legal weight on its own, so the registration still has to happen.
Marry in a place of worship registered for marriages, then move to the venue.
None of these needs disguising. Guests generally do not mind and frequently prefer the version where the legal part is done quietly beforehand.
What to establish with the venue
Whether the ceremony room and the reception room are the same, and if so how long the turnaround takes and where guests go during it. A room flip for a hundred people is thirty to forty-five minutes and guests need somewhere to be.
Whether the licence covers alcohol at the time of day the ceremony ends, which in an afternoon ceremony is not always assumed. See licensing.
Whether the registrar has requirements about the room: a table, two witnesses' seats, and a private space to see each party separately before the ceremony. That last one is a genuine requirement and small venues sometimes have nowhere suitable.
What the wet weather plan is if any part is outdoors. Outdoor civil ceremonies have specific rules about the structure they take place in or under, and a venue that hosts them will know exactly what its approval covers. See venue types for how the building's nature affects this.
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